Meet Associate Producer Ky Nolan
G’day! I’m Ky—I go by they/them and I’m thrilled to be your Associate Producer (Writing Lead) for Small Press Network’s 2022 Independent Publishing Conference.
Australian indie literature is my first love, so the opportunity to work with SPN is a dream come true.
A Naarm (Melbourne) local, I grew up riding my urban steed (push bike) to nearby hotspots like Cinema Nova (with a trip to Readings after a treat from Brunetti’s, naturally) and Cherry Bar. Despite being spoiled for culture in my formative years, it was the bush that captured my heart. In 2017 the deep-red rusty soil of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) called me, and I spent two years wrangling camels, soaking up the thriving arts scene and becoming entranced by the landscape and desert rain. I was constantly reading or writing, and getting stuck into The Artist’s Way helped me flirt with the idea of becoming a writer in earnest. I liked it, so in 2019 I ‘put a ring on it’ by returning to Naarm to study an Associate Degree in Professional Writing & Editing at RMIT University.
An outdoorsy barefoot mongrel, I catch pockets of time in rural Australia with my swag (and little else) whenever I can. My latest jaunt to Fremantle and back had me swimming with giant cuttlefish, watching southern right whales off the coast of Western Australia, and climbing up vintage fire lookouts in 100m tall karri trees.
I hope to spend my career championing Australian literature and amplifying marginalised voices wherever I can. I’m in the early stages of developing a publication devoted to climate-themed fiction, non-fiction and poetry. As THE defining issue of our generation, I believe such works have the power to propel change and help process grief while giving agency in a rapidly evolving landscape.
In the meantime, drumming up the written word for Small Press Network as Writing Lead on IPC 2022 will be a blast. If you have any questions about this year’s conference or would like to connect, you can find me on Twitter or LinkedIn. For a conversation starter—ask me about the time I ran through ABC studios with fistfuls of carrots.